Monday, April 11, 2005

Can't see the wood for the trees?

I had a phone call today, from the solicitors who are handling our house purchase.

In our Homebuyer's report, it was mentioned that there was a tree on a neighbouring property which needed to be checked out to ensure that it wasn't likely to be interfering with the foundations of the house and was being maintained appropriately by its owner.

The woman from the solicitors asked me which tree the surveyors were referring to. Evidently, I didn't know. I've seen the property twice. It's in a reasonably leafy area of Taunton so there were no trees which particularly stuck in my mind.

I asked if she'd contacted the surveyors. No.I asked if she'd contacted the vendors (via their solicitors). No.

I advised her to contact the surveyors. As authors of the report, they *should* know which tree they were reporting on.

Is this overly simplistic of me? Out of all the people involved in the house sale, surely I am *least* likely to know to which tree they are referring. Or am I missing something?